99 Red Balloons

     I have the cutest fiancé in the whole world! We were on our way home from the temple this morning, and he was like "Hey, we get married in 99 days. Do you wanna go buy 99 red balloons?" I thought it was a super cute way to count down to our wedding! So we went to Zurchers and bought 2 bags of "50" red balloons. Then when we got to my house, I was making lunch and Gordon was making a list of some sort, but wouldn't tell me what it was until he needed help with it. It was a list of, 99 things/activities to do. We came up with a list, some of which being duplicates, some of them being blank and we can do something random, and cut them up into little strips. We put a strip of paper in each balloon and so we pop a balloon have to do something every day so we aren't bored! I put 50 in quotations above because as we were getting close to being done blowing them up, we realized we didn't have enough balloons. That's right, we had 97 balloons, so we called the store and they gave us 3 for free.

Our list consisted of things like:
-Ice skating
-Bowling
-Babysitting our nieces and nephews
-Making crafts that I find on Pinterest,
-Reading a good book
-Starting a 1000 piece puzzle
-Go to a movie
-Harry Potter Party
-Make a healthy meal (body for life worthy)
-Make a treat from Pinterest
-Make a new dish from Pinterest
-Write a song together
-Learn a new duet
etc etc.

We tied the balloons on strings. Two balloons on each end of each string like this

We did that so we can put them in bunches like this.

Or hang a whole bunch from just one string like this.

Pennsylvania

On Christmas afternoon, Gordon and I flew to PA to visit his sisters and their families. It was a super great week! The only downside to it was that my brothers and their families were in town for the holiday, and we haven't been together fro Christmas in 5 years I think. But it's not my fault. Gordon and I bought our tickets in the beginning of October, which was before there was any mention of my family being together for the holidays.

     Anyway, we got to PA at about midnight their time and Gordon's brothers-in-law were super super kind and came all the way to Philadelphia to pick us up. It was about an hour and a half to two hour drive. We slept and Heather and Spencer's house. They made a very comfortable place for us to stay and accommodated us. The first day, we went to Nancy and Scott's house and met my future nieces Anne and June, went to Chocolate world, played fun games and ate yummy food.
     Tuesday was rainy but beautiful! I LOVE rain in the East! So much! So naturally, we went on a walk in the rain. It was cold. And we got SOAKED! I kinda loved it though! Through that experience, I learned the purpose of eyebrows. They aren't just for decoration, they keep water out of your eyes! We made pizzas, played more bored games and then watched Super 8. Heather and Spencer left before we started the movie cuz they were tired, and Gordon and I left before the movie was over cuz we too were pretty tired. It was super foggy that night because of the rain. It was like a scary movie because there are a TON of dead people in PA. Like every mile, there is a cemetery.
     Wednesday was nail-painting for the girls, Spore for the boys, more yummy food (Indian food. Mmmm) and more games, Oh and more Seinfeld. I didn't mention that Scott and Nancy gave Gordon season 7 of Seinfeld so he and I would stay up watching that on my laptop every night.
     Thursday, I woke up and tried to straighten my hair so I could not look like a wild animal in Gordon and my engagements. That was almost impossible because I didn't pack my straightener, so Nancy so kindly lent me hers. Thing is, I have spoiled myself with a semi-expensive straightener, and hers couldn't really handle my super thick un-manageable hair. But that wasn't too big of a deal considering it started snowing during the picture taking and it ruined my hair anyway. But surprisingly, I don't care! Nancy did an incredible job taking the pictures and the few that I have seen post-edit and just amazing, I can't wait to see them all! Later that day, Gordon and I joined Heather and Spencer for dinner (and yes, games) with their friends the Ellsworths. We had some delicious home made pot-stickers, Awesome! And we played Taboo and then this one game Carcassonne which I didn't understand, but somehow won...

One of these days, I can't remember which, Anne (2 years old) was playing with a toy near the bathroom and hear someone in there. She looks up at her aunt Heather, and without any expression on her face says "someone's raining." It was the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.

     Friday, we went to Amish-Country and ate a lot of pretzels. That pretty much sums up the Amish experience though. haha! Delicious pretzels. Then went back to Nancy and Scott's, ate some yummy shrimp pasta, played games and then Gordon and I went to the store and bought some pepperonis and go-gurts to replenish Heather and Spencer's supply since we were kinda indulgent over the week. We also bought bacon because we discovered that that day (Dec 30th) is bacon day. The next day, he and I were going to leave for the airport really early, so we thought "Let's just pull and all-nighter and sleep on the plane" So we made and ate a whole case of bacon. 12 oz. total, and drank some Diet Coke Lime and watched Seinfeld until, naturally, Gordon fell asleep.
     I fell asleep about 45 min later, and had to wake up about 1 hour after that. Then Scott and Spencer so kindly sacrificed more precious sleeping time to take us on another almost-two-hour drive to Baltimore so we could go home. Gordon was able to sleep a few hours on the plane and of course, I wasn't. Danny Oka came to pick us up from the airport, and of course, Gordon got some shut-eye on the drive home.

     The things I learned from this trip: Gordon can fall asleep anytime anywhere as long as I'm there. And he snores. (even though he says he doesn't)

     Gordon and I would like to thank Nancy, Scott, Heather and Spencer for their kindness and hospitality. We had a wonderful time with you guys! We love you and can't wait to see you again in April! And Spencer and Scott, thank you so much for driving us to and from the airports during hours you'd rather be sleeping. We really appreciate it!!

I'm engaged!

That's right! It's official! I can now get started on the bigger aspects of planning the wedding. Oh boy..


Here's the story:
For the whole story of how we met etc. read the whole thing.
For the whole engagement story, start at Green wording.
For just the proposal, scroll down to the blue.


Here we go!

      Gordon and I figured out who each other was while in our singles ward. We were officially introduced at Sub Zero when we went there with common friends after FHE one week. I didn't really notice him too much except for his uncanny impression of this guy...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF8GhC-T_Mo.
But we really became friends when he started going to the open mic night at Cybergate Cafe in Provo. I used to go to that every week, and then just as I started to go a little less frequently, he showed up once and played. He was good! But then when he sat back down, I saw that he was with some girl. So I didn't think much about it. Then a month or so later, he showed up again with a mission buddy, so I went up to him and asked if he would be playing that night, but he wasn't planning on it. I suggested that he and I perform together sometime, so right away he was like "what songs do you know? We should play tonight" So we played and sang Green Eyes by Coldplay that night and then we decided that we should actually plan songs to sing and practice together and such. So we did. The next week when we were going to perform, he brought a different girl. At first I thought she was just a friend, but then I saw him put his arm around her so I was like.. okay... But then we kept playing and practicing and such and then hanging out without practicing and we started seeing each other every single day until he FINALLY put his arm around me during a movie. (I later learned that things with the-girl-who-he-put-his-arm-around kinda just died down to nothingness like a few days after she came to the open mic night with him) 
     As we were dating, we would always make hypothetical jokes about "when we're married, we should....Hypothetically speaking" or "our kids are gonna...hypothetically speaking" Anyway, when we started becoming more serious, I was like "It doesn't sound so hypothetical anymore." Well, we seriously talked and prayed about it a lot and it felt right. So we decided we were going to get married (I know it's a little backwards since he hadn't proposed yet. but oh well.) 
     So Last night (Dec 3rd) I had a work party up in Midway. Of course, I brought him with me. When we got in the car, (I decided I would drive since my car is a whole lot cheaper to drive. And a whole lot more reliable) he was saying how he had homework he had to do, so blah blah blah and he needed his back pack from the car. The reason I say blah blah blah is because my mind went off to "does that mean that he wants to come home early from the party? Why didn't he do homework instead of watch Malcom in the Middle when he was Danny's earlier today?" Anyway, He put his back pack in the car, and we drove up to midway. On the way up I was like "dang it! Why didn't I grab my glasses!? They are pretty much just for driving at night!" and he was like "Do you want me to drive home?" I said no and that I could see fine. Then later in the drive I was talking about how I hate driving along edges like by cliffs and he again offered to drive home. Again, I declined the offer. 
      We got to the party, and when I got there, I was like "You know what would be funny?" And I pulled out a ring that I had in my purse.-- It is a ring that my grandma gave me with a few diamonds and pink jewels too. And it's gold.-- and said "we should trick everyone and I can wear this! That'd be funny!" I don't remember how he turned down the idea, but we didn't do that. Well at the rest of the party, we ate a LOT and had a grand ole time. Then we went home early. 
      Driving home, I asked him for some chapstick. I had him grab my purse and told him which pocket it would be in. He fished around and couldn't find it. Then as we got closer to the mouth of the canyon, he was like "Hey is that look out that we went to close to here?" Its the look out by the Orem Cemetery. We went up there about 2 months ago and danced, later that night we had a conversation that brought us a whole lot closer. So I was like "Ya, kinda. Wanna go up there?" and he was like "sure!" then a few seconds later, I was thinking "he's going to do it! He's been pretty sneaky today, but I really think he's going to do it. That would be beautiful! I wonder how he's going to do it. Stop, what if he doesn't do it? You don't want to be disappointed and bummed out. Stop expecting it."


     So we got to the look out and parked where both of us could see everything. He made some comment about how it was like the whole city is Christmas lights and how they all decorated just for us or something ridiculous like that. Anyway, I took off my seat belt and sat back and listened to the music playing (nickel creek.) Then I turned off the car cuz I didn't want it to die, and he said "so six kids huh?" and I was like "what?" And he said "You want at least 4, right and so do I, then we can see how you feel and how I feel and how Heavenly Father feels about us having more" so I was like "ya!" Then he was like, "I wanna share a segment of my Patriarchal blessing with you." so I was like "do you have it with you?" and as he was reaching in his back pack he said  "I have my english with me all the time and my spanish ones at home." Which didn't make sense. so I was like "...... Oh! Your english and spanish scriptures!" and he confirmed. (he keeps his scriptures in his back pack.) Well he asked me to turn on a light and he shared a part of his blessing about the woman he would some day marry, and then he took out a ring box and I hardly noticed because I was just looking at him and thinking "I can't wait to be her!" and he was opening the ring box and said "Will you be that person?" and the ring he started putting on my finger was the ring my grandma gave me that I had in my purse so then I thought he was just pretending to propose and being silly, so, not wanting to get super excited about something that wasn't real, I said "wait, are you being serious?" to which he looked a little disappointed. And I said "wait, really? Are you asking me?" and he was like "yes." So I was like "Of course I will!" then I cried a little and hugged him and kissed him and it was cute! And now we're engaged! My ring was supposed to be ready yesterday, but it won't be ready until Wednesday, but he didn't want to wait till then to propose, so I am going to be wearing the gold ring until then.
    

     He just makes me so happy all the time! ALL the time! You know how when you're in a bad mood and someone tries to cheer you up, and it just makes you even more annoyed? (maybe that's just me.) When he tries to cheer me up, he ALWAYS succeeds even when I don't want him to. He spoils me. Not in a material way, but he treats me so well. He never lets me forget how much he loves me, he never keeps anything a secret from me, even if I want him to. :)  He's my best friend and I love him. Those of you who haven't met him yet, you'll love him when you meet him. He is HILARIOUS! You know how "for every time you laugh, 2 seconds are added on to your life" I'm going to live FOREVER! He and I are perfect for each other. We think the same things are funny, no matter how nerdy or stupid it is. It's great! 


     Anyway, That's it! YAY!